Philly Front Office

As the NFL Salary cap consistently goes up, so will NFL contracts. Over the next two years you will see records fall at every position. It’s just the nature of the NFL. Since the offseason is agonizingly long, each week I will profile a different position to tell you who is the next man up for the Biggest NFL Contract. This week: Running Back

Quarterback
EDGE
Offensive Tackle
Defensive Tackle
Wide Receiver
Cornerback
Guard and Center
Safety
Running Back
Linebacker: August 12
Tight End: August 19
Special Teams: August 26

The Next Biggest NFL Contract Series

The running back market is about to see some movement in the form of Jahmyr Gibbs of the Lions and Bijan Robinson of the Falcons. Their situations are much different though considering the Lions cap is getting tight as they try to hold on to contention and the Falcons are likely starting over after a failed rebuild. The players they are aiming at are all over the map.

AAV – Saquon Barkley – $20.6m

Saquon Barkley is probably single handedly responsible for the coming RB contract renaissance. When he signed with the Eagles in 2024 for 3/$37.75m, talking heads claimed it was an overpay. Then after he had one of the best seasons of all time the Eagles rewarded him with a 2/$41.2m extension to make sure he was properly compensated for his efforts. After proving that RBs were being undervalued, the market should finally take a step in the right direction.

Total Value – De’Von Achane – $64m

Didn’t see that coming, did you? Achane signed for 4/$64m with the Dolphins who are in rebuild denial with their Achane and Malik Willis signings. Even crazier is that the player he beat for the top of the market is a guy who has never taken an NFL snap, Jeremiyah Love with his standard 4/$53m rookie contract in Arizona.

Crazier still, despite being the largest contract right now, Achane’s deal is only the 5th largest RB contract ever behind Ezekiel Elliot (6/$90m), Adrian Peterson (6/$85.3m), Alvin Kamara (5/$75m), and Christian McCaffrey (4/$64.1m).¹

The NEXT Biggest NFL Contract: Wide Receiver

Total Guarantee – Jeremiyah Love – $53m

This is why it isn’t financially prudent to draft a running back in the top 10. Love’s rookie deal is 100% guaranteed. Because he was drafted 3rd overall, he doesn’t just have the most guaranteed money, he has the title by a LOT. Barkley is in 2nd place with only $36m. After him is Ashton Jeanty from being picked 6th overall by the Raiders in 2025! That’s just plain crazy.

Who’s Next?

Obviously, Gibbs and Bijan are at the top of the list. Is there anyone else? Christian McCaffery is the first to come to mind. He signed a 2/$38m extension in 2024 that is out of guaranteed money after this season. He’s indispensable to the SF offense, so you would have to assume they want to keep him around. He will be 31 next year though. Assuming good performance this year, he will have his sights on the AAV record.

Jonathan Taylor had to work hard for his first extension from the Colts at 3/$42m. He was hurt in 2023 but has run for over 3000 yards the last two years. He is now in the final year of that extension and will only be 28 next year. Getting money from the Colts though might be tough.

The NEXT Biggest NFL Contract: Offensive Tackle

Contract Terms

Bijan Robinson established himself as maybe the premier running back in the NFL last year. He didn’t just run for nearly 1500 yards but he had 800 receiving yards too. He did this with no real QB. If I am Robinson, I am waiting out Gibbs to become the highest paid.

As for Gibbs, his numbers were slightly down last year but he is still a massive part of the Lions offense. Considering he is only 24, Gibbs has to be thinking that he needs to be rewarded like so many other Lions have been lately (with Penei Sewell about to reset the LT market). Assuming the Lions give in, he is going to want a 4-year deal using Saquon as the guide. 4/$84m sounds right. While that’s not crazy, the guarantee is probably the hold up. I’m sure the Lions are thinking something more along the lines of 50% of the deal and he wants 75%. There’s always somewhere in the middle.

Bijan is in the ideal situation to reset things. He’ll have Gibbs set the market, he’s the best thing going on a bad team, and the Falcons have no cap issues after purging the roster. Oh yeah, and he’s 1st Team All-Pro. I know Elliot and Peterson signed for more years with their record contracts, but that’s what I would be thinking about. $100m+ should be the goal. That means a 4/$100m deal or even 5/$110m. That may seem like a ton even for the best RB, but the stars have aligned for Robinson.

1. Diving even deeper, because Peterson’s deal was signed 15 years ago, if you factored for inflation it would be worth $213m! Of course, that’s nothing on the 7/$40.5m deal signed by Emmitt Smith in 1996 which would be worth $299m today. OverTheCap ↩︎

Photo: Detroit Free Press (which isn’t free (yes, I know that’s not what it means))

Contracts: Spotrac